Argentines in Rome pray for a pope who's one of their own
Francis has been in a Rome hospital with pneumonia and other infections since Feb. 14. On Tuesday evening, the Vatican said that Francis' condition was stable after suffering two acute respiratory episodes the previous day.
'I am very sad, and I've been praying for him,' said Marcela Perez, who works for a institute that houses six nuns in Rome. 'All of Argentina is praying for the pope.'
Millions around the world have been offering prayers for Francis since he entered the hospital. But members of the Argentine community that meets at the church of Santa Maria Addolorata, built a century ago by Argentine bishops, said they felt particularly close to him.
About 1,200 Argentines live in Rome, according to the Rome-based IDOS study and research center, which tracks immigration in Italy. Aptly, the church is in Piazza Buenos Aires, which borders some of Rome's most well-heeled neighborhoods.
Dozens of get-well wishes were scribbled, nearly all in Spanish, in a guest book in the chapel. The Rev. Fernando Laguna, the church's rector, said it would be delivered to Francis at the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, where he is being treated.
Before he became Francis, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio used to occasionally say Mass at the church, recalled Mary Cuartas, a retired dentist.
Mariarosa Cavanas lights a candle in front of a small chapel in Santa Maria Addolorata, in Rome, on March 2.
Elisabetta Povoledo/NYT
'We always pray for the pope,' said Laguna, but the prayers have intensified since Francis was admitted to the hospital. In front of the main altar, next to a statue of Our Lady of Lujàn, was another photo of Francis with the entreaty 'For the Health of the Holy Father.'
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Francis remains closely attached to his native country. He is a fan of San Lorenzo, a Buenos Aires soccer team, though he has not seen a game on television for decades, having vowed to never again watch television after being 'deeply offended' by a 'sordid scene' he saw on-screen in 1990, he said in his autobiography, 'Hope.'
But he added he was kept informed about the team thanks to a 'Swiss guardsman who leaves the results and league tables on my desk.' In 'Hope,' which was published in January, Francis recounts that he has kept in touch with several of his childhood friends, who often visit him if they pass through Rome.
'There's always a lot of Argentines around,' said Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister. 'He sometimes assumes a personal responsibility,' remaining in touch with Argentine clerics and nuns in far-flung places.
On a physically grueling 11-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region in September, Francis flew 600 miles to Vanimo, a remote outpost of Papua New Guinea, to spend an afternoon with a group of missionaries from Argentina and local Catholics. The priests served him mate, a traditional herbal drink that is common in South America.
Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, Francis has been in almost nightly contact with a parish led by an Argentine priest in the enclave, although the calls became less frequent after he entered the hospital.
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Since his hospitalization began, Francis' normally outspoken voice had all but disappeared, save for short messages via Angelus prayers on Sundays, and it was sorely missed, said Angel Moavro, one of the owners of Baires, an Argentine restaurant in downtown Rome. 'We really need him these days' to help mediate, he said, referring to the explosive confrontation at the White House between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
'Certainly, once he's back, he's going to have to take more care of himself,' he said.
After Mass on Sunday, as they do each month, the dozens of Argentine expats gathered in the church hall to eat empanadas made by volunteers.
Federico Gatti, who works in risk assessment for a US import-export company, said the Argentine community in Rome saw Francis as one of their own. 'For us, it's as though our grandfather is ill, we want him to get better,' he said. 'So one prays, hopes he will get better, in the hope that he will regain his forces and the support of all the church on this path.'
This article originally appeared in
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